Contempt of superior judiciary: Mirza pleads not guilty, to contest case

ISLAMABAD: Iftikhar-ud-Din Mirza Thursday pleaded not guilty in the contempt of court case and submitted that he would contest the case.

Mirza had used a derogatory, contemptuous, and scandalous language against the judiciary in a video that went viral last month.

A two-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard the case.

On the last date of hearing, the apex court had framed charge against Mirza, directing his counsel to consult him if he pleaded guilty or not.

The court had expressed dissatisfaction with two the replies submitted by the alleged contemnor.

"The replies more or less are the same and we have considered the both and are altogether not satisfied and thus find the case to be one on which the charge needs to be framed against the alleged contemnor,” the court had noted in its order.

Mirza had apologised to the court, saying he was ashamed of his remarks.

“I ask forgiveness from you as a Muslim. I apologise for my statements in the video,” Mirza had said pleading that he had no knowledge of the editing and uploading of the video.

On Thursday, the alleged contemnor appeared before the court along with his counsel Sarkar Abbas.

Attorney General Khalid Javed read out the charge to the alleged contemnor to which he pleaded not guilty and said he would contest the case.

The attorney general assured the court that evidence as well as witnesses would be produced before the court.

The court rejected Mirza’s plea that the contempt proceeding against him be stayed until a decision on the FIR lodged by the wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa as well as the case pending against him with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Mirza’s counsel contended that two cases were filed on a single video.

The chief justice, however, observed that four laws were violated and every organization will come into action and invoke its own laws.

Justice Ijazul Ahsen observed that cybercrimes as well as laws pertaining to terrorism had nothing to do with the contempt of court adding that a judge was threatened in the said video, which was a criminal offence hence punishment as well as trial of every crime was different.

The chief justice observed that the trial court would decide the case on the basis of evidences adding that as per record, transactions of millions of rupees had been made in the accounts of the alleged contemnor, while investigation into the funding made to the alleged contemnor was underway.

Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency submitted its report to the court stating the co-accused Akbar Ali had been released on bail by the anti-terrorism court; however, it has rejected Mirza’s bail application.

According to the report, his contact list of 486 numbers includes retired army officials and civilians.

The report stated that as per 26 contact numbers had no link with the video.

The FIA also submitted that it had also interrogated Abdul Waheed Dogar, a journalist and the complaint against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

As per Abdul Waheed Dogar, he covers beats of Ministry of Interior, Finance as law enforcing agencies, says the report.

The report further stated that Abdul Waheed Dogar had admitted that he had once met Shahzad Akbar, head of the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), pertaining to the reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa

The FIA report further submitted that Abdul Waheed Dogar had admitted that after filing a complaint with the ARU, he had met Shahzad Akbar once. Dogar, however, contradicted any relationship with Mirza.

The report also revealed that the statement of Shahzad Akbar was also recorded who stated that he had no relations with Iftikhar ud-din Mirza

The FIA further submitted that Mirza had uploaded some 689 videos out of which investigation into 175 had been completed.

In pursuance of the court’s order, investigation into 19 bank accounts is underway, the FIA report said, adding that in one of his accounts, transaction of a housing society was found whereas Mirza’s son had confessed that his father had only a few marlas of land after selling out 31 kanals in a housing society.

Similarly, the court was informed that an amount of over Rs64 million had been transferred from Iqra Public School and College from 2010 to 2018.

It was further informed that the accounts of the alleged contemnor also used to receive funding from abroad adding that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had been approached for the tax record of the alleged contemnor.